Cornwall Marine Network has been short-listed for the industry’s top prize, the Maritime UK Coastal Powerhouse Award, which recognises an organisation that has proven themselves as a key driver for growth within a coastal region and whose Company’s values, passion and vision are helping transform the local maritime economy into a coastal powerhouse. CMN is one of only three organisations shortlisted and for CMN this is the second successive year they have been in the final running for this highly prestigious award.
Maritime UK is the collective voice for the UK’s maritime industries, that champions and works to enable a thriving maritime sector. The MUK Awards will be presented at the annual awards ceremony which this year is at the Titanic Museum in Belfast on the 5th June 2024.
Supporting its member businesses to grow over the last 20 years, CMN continues to demonstrate it is a true Coastal Powerhouse with its impact and collaboration with members which has resulted in the company competitively winning £42 million of public funds which it has used to support members to create and fill more than 4,600 new jobs across Cornwall, which collectively has added more than £600 million of additional value to Cornwall’s economy.
Paul Wickes MBE – CMN CEO
‘Cornwall Marine Network is thrilled to have been nominated for the Maritime UK Coastal Powerhouse prestigious award again in 2024. CMN was founded by local marine businesses over 20 years ago, and our expert team has worked closely with our nearly 400 member businesses to invest in them, upskill their employees, help them bring innovative new products to market and improve productivity, whilst also focussing on engaging and bringing young people into the local sector. Our team gives identity and a voice to the marine sector in Cornwall and the South West, and we represent our members nationally and share best practice with our regional maritime cluster colleagues across the whole UK. Maritime UK’s continued recognition of this work is something our member businesses, our CMN team and Cornwall should all be very proud of.’
CMN’s continued expansion has also seen the launch of Apprenticeship Academies with a growing number of member businesses, based at the employer premises, making the training truly employer led, for the industry, by the industry, in specialist skilled areas including Hydraulics and Pneumatics, Boatbuilding and Marine Engineering with more of these CMN ‘centres of training excellence’ due to be announced later this year. CMN’s subsidiary, the Cornwall Marine Academy continues to provide sector ownership for engaging with schools to progress Young People into jobs and Apprenticeships, and was itself a MUK national award winner for its collaboration with local businesses to jointly support young people into the sector in 2019.
Since the start of 2024, CMN have launched a new range of skills support which includes specialist sustainability and green skills, digital skills, upskilling people for floating offshore wind, and a new range of on-line business skills workshops for managers and business owners, adding support to the wider sector and helping more businesses to grow and navigate the various challenges and opportunities the sector faces.
Peter Childs – Chairman CMN
‘I am delighted the team at Cornwall Marine Network has been selected as one of the finalists for this prestigious award. I along with most marine businesses in Cornwall have benefited from the support, guidance, expertise and voice the CMN team give to our world class local marine sector and coastal communities throughout Cornwall and the South West. So it is wonderful to see the achievements of Cornwall Marine Network recognised on the national stage as finalists for Maritime UK’s Coastal Powerhouse award. Well done indeed to the team at CMN.’
CMN’s achievements are without parallel for maritime business support organisations in the UK.
Together, CMN and its members have :
- Created over 5,000 New Jobs including 1,550 new Apprenticeships in SMEs, 92% of whom had never employed apprentices
- Created a sense of community around marine and supported 880 unemployed people into jobs
- Upskilled more than 10,500 marine employees, 65% of the local marine workforce
- Created 106 Volunteer Marine Ambassadors from member businesses to share marine careers advice at local secondary schools
- Provided careers advice to more than 36,000 Young People aged 14-16 years
- Created meaningful Vocational Work Experience placements with members for 3,750 Young People
- Competitively secured and invested £42 Million of project funds into Cornwall businesses
- In addition, CMN’s engagement in a recent SME innovation support project has produced 20 ‘world firsts’ of new products that will directly or indirectly drive down carbon emissions along with partnering with the Maritime Skills Commission and DfT to provide a national pilot for the development of new maritime green skills.
Notes to Editors:
For Further information or any questions or to enquire about support available, please contact:
Sam Winters – Strategic Marketing and Communications
Cornwall Marine Network Group
sam.winters@cornwallmarine.net
Tel: 01326 211382
Cornwall Marine Network Group (CMN)
Cornwall Marine Network is a private not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee and owned by more than 350 local businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The CMN Team provide expert specialist support which helps companies and people to grow.
